Thomas Cook AG was the parent company of Thomas Cook Thomas Cook of Melbourne, Derbyshire, founded the travel agency that is now Thomas Cook Group, Condor Airlines and other such subsidiaries until 12 February 2007 when Thomas Cook AG announced that it had merged with MyTravel Group PLC. The new combined company was named Thomas Cook Group plc.
It was originally incorporated on November 1, 1997 as "C&N Touristic AG" but the name was changed following the 2002 acquisition of Thomas Cook. The group was jointly owned by Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʏt͡ʃə ˈlʊfthanza]) is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft (the German word for "air"), and Hansa (after Hanseatic League, the powerful medieval trading group) and Karstadt Arcandor AG (FWB: AROG) is a holding company located in Essen, Germany that oversees companies operating in the businesses of mail order and internet shopping, department stores and tourism services. It was created in 1999 through the merger of Karstadt Warenhaus AG, which was founded in 1920, and Quelle Schickedanz AG & Co, founded in 1927, However Karstadt Arcandor AG (FWB: AROG) is a holding company located in Essen, Germany that oversees companies operating in the businesses of mail order and internet shopping, department stores and tourism services. It was created in 1999 through the merger of Karstadt Warenhaus AG, which was founded in 1920, and Quelle Schickedanz AG & Co, founded in 1927 took control of the company two days before Christmas 2006 by buying the half-share owned by Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʏt͡ʃə ˈlʊfthanza]) is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft (the German word for "air"), and Hansa (after Hanseatic League, the powerful medieval trading group), the German airline.Karstadt Arcandor AG (FWB: AROG) is a holding company located in Essen, Germany that oversees companies operating in the businesses of mail order and internet shopping, department stores and tourism services. It was created in 1999 through the merger of Karstadt Warenhaus AG, which was founded in 1920, and Quelle Schickedanz AG & Co, founded in 1927 paid €800m (£540m), though Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (German pronunciation: [ˈdɔʏt͡ʃə ˈlʊfthanza]) is the flag carrier of Germany and the largest airline in Europe in terms of overall passengers carried. The name of the company is derived from Luft (the German word for "air"), and Hansa (after Hanseatic League, the powerful medieval trading group) will for at least the next two years retain a stake in Condor Airlines, Thomas Cook's in-house airline in Germany.
Worldwide
Thomas Cook Worldwide had 5 wholly owned subsidiaries Thomas Cook UK, Thomas Cook Netherlands, Thomas Cook France, Thomas Cook Belgium, Thomas Cook Destinations, along with majority holdings in Condor Flugdienst and TC Touristik. Thomas Cook used to have a franchise agreement in the Middle East - Specifically in the United Arab Emirates through a licensee agreement it had with a local group called the Al Rostamani Group. The venture was terminated after The Thomas Cook brand name was sold to Dubai Holdings which planned to use it in the Middle East.
In the United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland[note 7] is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of the island of Ireland, and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land, Thomas Cook conformed to the model of a 'vertically integrated travel company' operating an airline, a retail arm and also a tour operator. This tour operator division was previously known as Thomas Cook Tour Operations but in early 2006 was restructured as the 'Holidays Division', incorporating the previously separate Thomas Cook Signature brand alongside the Thomas Cook, JMC and Sunset brands. The 'Specialist Products' division included Uptrips (including the Club 18-30 Club 18-30 is a holiday company owned by Thomas Cook that offers cut-price holidays for young men and women who seek a more lively holiday than those offered by many large package holiday providers. It takes around 110,000 guests each year with turnover of around £50m a year. The average age of guests is 21, and one third of customers are brand), Style, Neilson Active Holidays and Sunworld Ireland.
In 1999, Thomas Cook AG sold off its worldwide Foreign Exchange business to Travelex Travelex plc is a foreign exchange company, with its company headquarters located in Kingsway, London, England,although the company has a number of offices in other UK and Worldwide locations to concentrate only on tours and holidays. After the market depression, particularly following the September 11, 2001, attacks The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. On that morning, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial passenger jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing, Thomas Cook AG had started a disinvestment Disinvestment, sometimes referred to as divestment, refers to the use of a concerted economic boycott, with specific emphasis on liquidating stock, to pressure a government, industry, or company towards a change in policy, or in the case of governments, even regime change. The term was first used in the 1980s, most commonly in the United States, programme by disposing off some of its subsidiaries and business ventures to follow a highly flexible business model and become an asset light company with minimum capital tie up. The business focused on Europe for the sale of package holidays A package holiday or package tour consists of transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided like a rental car, activities or outings during the holiday. Transport can be via charter airline to a foreign country. Package holidays are a form of product bundling and tailor-made holidays for customers specific requirements.
On December 21, 2005, Thomas Cook AG, sold off Thomas Cook International Markets, a venture which includes 60% of the stake in Thomas Cook India Ltd to Dubai Financial LLC, a part of the Dubai Investment Group (DIG) which manages the financial and real estate interests of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai. Thomas Cook India, a profitable venture, which offered a broad band of services like package tours, currency exchange and travel insurance besides hotel and flight reservations. Thomas Cook India had been in existence for 124 years and operated 60 offices across various locations. Thomas Cook India had branches in Sri Lanka and Mauritius and reported sales of €23.3 million. After the take over by Dubai Financial LLC, Thomas Cook India took over LKP forex, one of India's leading foreign exchange houses and The Travel Corporation of India (TCI) India's leading travel and tourism corporation.
Following this, Thomas Cook Overseas Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thomas Cook UK was sold off, this time again to Dubai Financial LLC. (Thomas Cook Overseas Ltd consisted of 19 travel agencies, 22 currency exchanges in Egypt with 371 employees and during the 2005 business year had a turnover of just under €6 million).
Thomas Cook AG soon entered the market again, this time to sell off two more of its subsidiaries - Thomas Cook Thailand and Thomas Cook Middle East both to Dubai Financial LLC. Thomas Cook Middle East consists of the Middle East region, which experienced a boom in travel and tourism, especially in places like Dubai, Qatar, Oman and so on. Thomas Cook Lebanon S.A.L. had started in June 2004 providing travel and financial services. The company also operates a travel agency and a currency exchange in Beirut. Dubai Financials had planned an aggressive expansion strategy for its newly acquired arms. The total deal fetched Thomas Cook approximately 115 million US dollars.
Thomas Cook Canada was sold to Transat A.T in 2006, marking Thomas Cook's exit from the North American market in terms of its own retailer.
On 12 February 2007, Thomas Cook AG announced that they had agreed terms on a merger with MyTravel Group PLC. The merger was subject to shareholders of MyTravel giving their approval at an Extraordinary General Meeting. The parent company of the enlarged group was named Thomas Cook Group plc with its headquarters in the UK and listed in London.[1]
Companies
The companies in Thomas Cook AG included:
- Thomas Cook Holidays Division, includes Airtours, Sunset, Manos, Panorama, Escapades, Thomas Cook Signature, Club 18-30, Neilson Active Holidays, Style and Sunworld Ireland.
- Thomas Cook Retail
- Thomas Cook Airlines Thomas Cook Airlines is a British charter airline based in Manchester, England. It serves main holiday resorts in Europe , North Africa, Asia, North America and the Caribbean from main bases at Manchester and London Gatwick
- Thomas Cook Airlines (Belgium)
- Condor Airlines
- Thomas Cook TV
Clearance by the European Competition Commission was granted on 4 May for the merger of Thomas Cook and Mytravel forming the new Thomas Cook Group PLC (TCG)
References
- ^ MyTravel Group plc (2007-02-12). "MERGER OF MYTRAVEL GROUP PLC AND THOMAS COOK AG TO CREATE A LEADING INTERNATIONAL LEISURE TRAVEL COMPANY". Press release. http://www.mytravelgroup.com/AniteNextPage.asp?p=PLCNEWSARTICLE_72348&s=420465291. Retrieved 2007-02-12.
Categories: Companies established in 1997 | Defunct companies of Germany
